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Webster 1913 Edition


Dangerous

Dan′ger-ous

,
Adj.
[OE., haughty, difficult, dangerous, fr. OF.
dangereus
, F.
dangereux
. See
Danger
.]
1.
Attended or beset with danger; full of risk; perilous; hazardous; unsafe.
Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us;
The ways are
dangerous
.
Shakespeare
It is
dangerous
to assert a negative.
Macaulay.
2.
Causing danger; ready to do harm or injury.
If they incline to think you
dangerous

To less than gods.
Milton.
3.
In a condition of danger, as from illness; threatened with death.
[Colloq.]
Forby. Bartlett.
4.
Hard to suit; difficult to please.
[Obs.]
My wages ben full strait, and eke full small;
My lord to me is hard and
dangerous
.
Chaucer.
Dan′ger-ous-ly
,
adv.
Dan′ger-ous-ness
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Dangerous

DANGEROUS

,
Adj.
1.
Perilous; hazardous; exposing to loss; unsafe; full of risk; as a dangerous voyage; a dangerous experiment.
2.
Creating danger; causing risk of evil; as a dangerous man; a dangerous conspiracy.

Definition 2024


dangerous

dangerous

English

Adjective

dangerous (comparative more dangerous, superlative most dangerous)

  1. Full of danger.
    Railway crossings without gates are highly dangerous.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  2. Causing danger; ready to do harm or injury.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      If they incline to think you dangerous / To less than gods
  3. (colloquial, dated) In a condition of danger, as from illness; threatened with death.
    Forby. Bartlett.
  4. (obsolete) Hard to suit; difficult to please.
    • Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343-1400)
      My wages ben full strait, and eke full small; / My lord to me is hard and dangerous.
  5. (obsolete) Reserved; not affable.

Usage notes

The standard comparative and superlative are more dangerous and most dangerous; the forms dangerouser and dangerousest exist but are nonstandard.

Synonyms

(full of danger):

Antonyms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams